March 1, 2026; Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA; Ricky Castillo hits a shot from the second tee during the final round of the Cognizant Classic golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Image Ricky Castillo made four straight birdies through five holes midway through the round to take the lead Saturday to advance to the final round of the Puerto Rico Open at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
“This is a position we’ve all dreamed of and would like to have the opportunity to win a golf tournament,” Castillo said. “I’ve been lucky enough to get that opportunity a few times, but I haven’t finished it yet, so let’s do it tomorrow.
“At the end of the day, we’re just trying to play the best we can, stick to my process and focus on what I can control.”
Castillo, who went bogey-free, shot 4-under-par 68 in each of the first three rounds, recording 12-under-par for this tournament, one stroke ahead of the tournament.
That consistency was on display again on Saturday. Castillo said that despite the windy conditions, other golfers rarely had trouble.
“It was really swirling and blowing and it could be really tricky at times,” Castillo said. “It’s really hard to trust yourself and your line when the wind blows that much, especially when there’s a gust of wind. But I felt like I managed the game really well today and managed my emotions really well, so it was good.”
Rookie Chandler Blanchet grabbed the headlines as a pole setter in the first two rounds of the alternate event opposite the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but his day was all over the place, starting with three bogeys over the first five holes (including the first two).
After recording a birdie, bogey, birdie, par, and birdie two strokes later, he added a bogey on the 14th hole and tied for second place with a 2-over-par score of 74.
“Yes, it was hard work. No one said it would be easy,” Blanchett said. “The more you are in this position, the more comfortable you will be. The more often you get into this position, the more often you will end up having the advantage.”
Along with Blanchet, tied at 11 under par were England’s John Parry (68), Germany’s Marty Schmid (68) and Blaise Brown (18).
Parry teed off with three birdies in his first four, while Schmid took a little longer to get birdies on numbers 9-11 and 14. On the other hand, Brown made two early bogeys and saved the day with an eagle on the 14th hole thanks to a tortuous putting.
“It broke to the right, then to the left, then to the left again, and then as it came down the hill it broke to the right,” Brown explained. “And luckily I had the right speed and it went to the left.”
Davis Thompson (65) and Germany’s Jeremy Paul (70) also recorded 10 under par, two strokes behind Castillo within batting average.
Gordon Sargent, who was in second place 24 hours earlier, turned in an even card to tie for eighth place. Still, he remains just three strokes off the pace, highlighting the breadth of the leaderboard, with 19 players within four strokes of Castillo.
One of those players is amateur John Daly II, the son of two-time major champion John Daly. He shot 70, 9 under par and 2 under.
–Field level media
